


Cinderella and Juliet

by CantarellaRose



Category: THE iDOLM@STER
Genre: Crush at First Sight, Feelings Realization, First Crush, First Meetings, Kinda?, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Other, POV Third Person, RoseP-verse, Self-Indulgent, Slice of Life, Tags Are Hard, Yumejoshi, it's complicated - Freeform, t for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:20:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27158522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CantarellaRose/pseuds/CantarellaRose
Summary: Love doesn't always work like it does in fairy tales, but that's fine.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. Side: Cinderella

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday to me! This first chapter is meant to be a fun little accompaniment for Budding Roses that takes place between chapters 1 and 2. Hope y'all enjoy!

Rose stared at her laptop screen as she rested her chin in her hand. 

Just earlier that day, she had managed to get herself a job. One as an idol producer of all things. Definitely not a typical job the other kids at her school would be getting. However, she had neglected one aspect about herself that would make this job more difficult than it already would be (other than her status as a high school student, obviously).

The fact she wasn't even a fan of idols to begin with.

And so, her homework was glaring her right in the eye: researching idols.

She sighed, "Where the fuck do I even begin?"

Googling the names of each Jupiter member? No, honestly that would just feel awkward as she had just met and spoke with them only a few hours ago. Besides, it was pretty late and all three of them were likely asleep (except Shouta, whom she had been exchanging cursed images with for the past half hour) so any questions would have to be saved for the next day.

"Wait, didn't Touma mention a 765 Productions earlier? Wonder who's with them."

She typed the name into her laptop with one hand and smacked the enter key. One of the first links to pop up was an official website for 765 Productions. While skimming through it gave her a good idea of who was involved with the agency, she needed _more_.

Clicking around on a forum that had appeared had garnered... interesting results to say the absolute least. But there was one message that caught her eye.

 _ >Hey guys! I managed to rip the blu-ray of 765’s stadium live! _ _Here’s the dl link!_

“...No one needs to know.”

Surprisingly, the link ended up not containing any sort of malware bullshit but led right to an upload of the entire show on a throwaway drive of the anon’s. Plugging in her earbuds and full-screening the video, she hit play.

All was dark, save for the glow of various penlights from the audience. A lively piano with clapping began to play as the stage lit up, showing silhouettes of twelve girls (didn’t the site list thirteen idols though?). Not too long after, the screen in front of them lifted and all of the girls were visible as horns were added. The audience clapped in time to the beat as the girls began to fan out while dancing.

"C'mon, let's shine now!!

Yes, with all these memories

With the dazzling light of today"

Slowly, Rose lifted her head from her hand, “Shit, this is actually pretty good.”

The choreography (so far not much more complicated than anything done for school theatre, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try to copy it at some point), the cinematography, but especially the vocal work from each of the twelve idols was exquisite. Especially the girl with the long blue hair and the woman with the short purple hair; she’d learn the names eventually. The short girl with the orange pigtails was just so damn adorable in both appearance and voice.

“C'mon, let's fly now!!

Yes, toward the only one future

With the splendid wings of today”

...There. Around that point, there was a specific voice that caught her ears. Skipping back a bit, Rose listened closely for it. Unlike most of the others, it was a lower kind of voice; like an alto. Honestly, it was quite a lovely voice.

She leaned back with a ghost of a grin, “That’s not one you always find in this business.” And right there was when she saw _her._

The camerawork kept swooping from across each end of the stage for a view of each of the girls. Then it finally was brought over to the owner of that lovely voice. A girl, she didn’t look much older than Rose herself, with short black hair. Her gray eyes wide with pure joy as she sang and danced with the others.

“Man,” Rose laid her chin on her fist, “she’s super cute...”

“STAGE

Because I want to sing”

Some unfamiliar looking girls popped out from the other end of the stage. Backup dancers? Though, she found herself glancing back towards the idol with the short black hair.

“LIVE

Because I want to dance”

More backup dancers from the opposite end. What is that girl’s name?

“Let's raise a new curtain

NEVER END IDOL!!”

Rose began absent-mindedly tapping along to the beat of the song as she pulled out her phone. She _had_ to know what that girl’s name was.

“Since I first wished for this dream, 

Until today, how long has it passed? 

Chain each day altogether” 

God, that chorus was catchy. She pulled up the official website for 765 Productions and immediately went to the profiles section. Scrolling past the others’ profiles and immediately tapping on the one with the girl’s profile. She gave up on constantly glancing between screens and stuck to her phone.

“Because dream is a proof

That you're born to fulfill it yourself

Certainly within this heart lies”

_I'm Kikuchi Makoto, aiming to be a cute idol, and going at it with full power!_ Right below a headshot of her smiling at the camera.

That was what did her in. Hook, line, and sinker. To Hell with her mantra of “love at first sight is romcom bullshit.” Her grip tightened around her phone as her cheeks were dusted light pink.

“My M@STERPIECE” 

Yamada Rose fell in love, and she fell _hard._


	2. Side: Juliet

“Miki! Oi, Miki! Where are you?” Makoto called out as she made her way down the hall. “Man, where in the world did she go?”

She rounded a corner, “Mik-”

**_Bam!_ **

Next thing Makoto knew, she was on the floor. Groans of pain overlapped each other as she saw a few papers flutter around. Right in front of her was a girl who had also landed ass-first on the floor. Long dark brown hair cascaded down to about her shoulder blades. From behind her bangs, her eyes of the same hue slowly cracked open as she rubbed the side of her head. She didn’t look that much older than Makoto, although her attire suggested she likely wasn’t an idol; a plain white top with a black jacket and matching slacks. Honestly, Makoto thought the girl was quite pretty.

Makoto’s eyes widened as she pulled herself up, “Ack! I’m really sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going!”

“N-no, I should be the one apologizing!” The girl replied, her gaze glued to the floor, “I was running after all and- Fuck!” She got on her knees and began gathering up the papers.

“Here, let me help.” Makoto bent down and reached for the nearest paper.

“I-t’s fine, really. You don’t hav-”

The words died on the brunette’s tongue as they grabbed the same paper and their fingers had brushed against each other. Slowly but surely, she finally lifted her head to actually look at Makoto. A good few seconds later, the girl’s face flushed a light red. She dropped her gaze and the paper, “I, uh, um...”

Makoto picked up the paper and handed it to her, “You ok, Miss?”

“Huh?” The girl blinked, then, “Oh! Yeah! Completely!” She took the paper, “Th-thank you, Ma- I mean, u-um...”

“Makoto!” She flashed her a smile, “Kikuchi Makoto!”

The brunette crossed her arms and clutched the papers to her chest. “I’m, um, Yamada Rose.” Her voice was small, “N-nice to meet you, Kikuchi-san...”

A beat of silence. “So,” Makoto attempted to break the ice, “what agency are you with? Never seen you ‘round before.”

“Ah, I’m with 315 Productions! As a producer!” The girl, Rose, answered, “We established not too long ago, so I don’t blame you if you’ve never heard of it...”

She giggled, “Well then, I’d better keep an eye out for you guys from now on!”

A nervous chuckle from Rose, “Guess that makes us rivals, huh?”

“Mhm! But!” Makoto put a hand on her hip, “We can still be friends, y’know!”

The other girl’s face went pink, “W-wha, I, um… Fr-friends…?” Her voice laden with nervousness and, disbelief?

She nodded, “Yeah! Besides, you seem like a nice person, it’d be fun to get to know ya more!”

Rose looked like she was short-circuiting. Her eyes wide and her mouth opening and closing without making any sound. After a moment, she suddenly went still, although her face was still dusted pink. “L-li-likewise, Kikuchi-san!”

“Just Makoto is fine, Rose! Hey, why don’t we exchange numbers while we’re at this?”

“S-sure! Um, gimme a sec.” The producer shifted all her papers into one arm as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, “Here!”

Makoto pulled out her own phone, “And… there we go!”

There was a twinkling in the brunette’s eyes as she drew her phone back to her, but that went away as she looked at the screen, “Shit! I’m gonna be late!” She shoved her phone into pocket and gave Makoto a small bow, “It was very, very nice to meet you Kiku- I mean, Ma-Makoto! Goodbye!” With that, she sped past the corner.

Makoto stood there for a moment. “Man, she’s kinda cute...”

...Wait, what was the reason she had come out here initially?

“Hm? Makoto-kun?”

Oh right, that was why.

She turned around, “There you are, Miki! Where the heck have you been?”

“Miki found a comfy spot and decided to take a nap.” said the blonde, “Although, Miki did manage to wake up to see you talking to that producer lady.”

“Well, we should head back to the dressing room now, Iori and Yukiho are waiting for us.”

She’d try texting that girl when she got home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The timeline for this is meant to be ambiguous as perhaps I'll be able to write this very scene from RoseP's pov in Budding Roses at some point!

**Author's Note:**

> She's watching the live from the movie. Translations for both M@sterpiece and Makoto's profile (from imas2) are from project-imas.


End file.
